Welcome to Hunter Toastmasters’ Club website!  As a chartered club of Toastmasters International, our club seeks to help its members improve their communication and leadership skills through education and mutual support.

We are located in New York City and belong to NY District 46 of Toastmasters International.  The club meets every Friday at 6:30 PM (please arrive by 6:15) at a classroom of Hunter College, 695 Park Ave. New York, NY (see left for specific room).

Membership is open any time of the year, and we welcome your participation. Please see the contact information and directions links below. Our regular meetings are open to the public, so we encourage you to come and visit us.

Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization that gives its members the opportunity to develop and improve their public speaking abilities through local club meetings, training seminars, and speech contests. Toastmasters International includes more than 199,000 men and women in more than 9,300 clubs throughout 70 countries.

Experienced professionals and beginning speakers alike can benefit from our practical, face-to-face learning program. Whether you’re speaking to the board of directors, your customers, your co-workers, or your kids, Toastmasters can help you do it better. You’ll learn and practice in a friendly, comfortable environment with people who are there for the same reason you are: to become better communicators.

At Toastmasters, members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment. A typical Toastmasters club is made up of 20 to 30 people who meet once a week for about an hour. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice conducting meetings, giving impromptu speeches, presenting prepared speeches, and offering constructive evaluation.

Please feel free to contact us at hunter.toastmasters@gmail.com with any questions.

(Want to know who’s on the agenda for our next meeting, or to confirm we are having one? Check out The Upcoming Agendas.)

On June 6th, Hunter Toastmasters hosted an election for 7 offices for the upcoming year. Twenty five people came including two new guests. Welcome and thank you all for participating in such an exciting election. (The seven offices are: President, VP of Education, VP of Membership, VP of Public Relations, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergent-at-Arms).

The meeting was started on time by the president of our club Al with a brief opening remark. He briefly explained a procedure of the election and then welcomed our Table Topic Master, Julian. Six people participated in table topic speech. (see below) It was a great opening of the election. Thanks Julian and the six participants!

After the impromptu speech, the lectern was given back to Al who led the whole election. In each position, along with people who are officially nominated, anyone could run from the floor. So we had unexpected competition in a few positions. 

Candidates:

Secondary Speech

• President: Michael Jackson for Eric Frawley, John Stribling for Sterling Walker
• VP of Public Relations: John Donato for Michael Jackson
• Treasurer: Fumi Tataki for Cathe McGowan
• Treasurer: Sterling Walker for Chet Baboor

Result

• President: Eric Frawley
• VP of Education: Sterling Walker
• VP of Membership: Merlyne Jeane-Louis
• VP of Public Relations: Michael Jackson
• Secretary: Cathe McGowan
• Treasurer: Chet Baboor
• Sergent-at-Arms: Rosalyn

Each speaker gave such an inspirng speech. The election was conducted smoothly thanks for Julian, Kilrak and Al who organized the election. The meeting was closed with a word from our new president Eric.  Overall, it was a wonderful election! Thanks everyone and see you all next Friday in the same room on June 13th!!

Meeting Roles:
Toastmaster: Al

Table Topic Toastmaster: Julian

Timer: Matt

Table Topic Speakers

Debbi, Terrylynn,Tim, Matt, Yong-gie (welcome back!!), Kevin

Table Topic speakers during the ballot counting

Leonette, Carol, Rocky and Fumi

Fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests,

We had a wonderful meeting on May 30th, 2008! Thirty five people came including five new guests. Welcome and thank you all for coming!

The meeting was started on time by the president of our club Al with a brief opening remark. He then gave a presentation of the upcoming club election. Next week, we won’t have a regular meeting, but a club election. We will select 7 roles: President, Vice President, VP of Education, VP of Membership, VP of Public Relations, Treasurer, Secretary and the Sergent of Arms. Each candidate will give a speech. The election is very important for our club so we urge you all to participate in the election next Friday.

After the presentation, the lectern was given to John Donato who led the whole meeting through as the Toastmaster. Michael Jackson then took the lectern as the toastmaster of the table topic session.  It was a great impromptus speech session, well done, guys, and thanks to the six participants for their wonderful speeches.

Three wonderful speakers delivered their speeches in the prepared speech session. In his first speech, Joey Perez gave a inspiring wonderful speech. The title was “Not just that guy in the wheelchair” and he emphasized that people with disability demand the same rights as others and want to make choices. It was very touching speech.

Ying then gave a speech, “Today is your last day.” Her theme was that life is once, so we should thank everyday as if today is our last day.” It was a persuasive speech by talking about the earthquake in China. The last speaker was Matt who gave his second speech. In “Adventures in social engineering,” he talked about the premises of social engineering. It was a humorous and entertaining speech as always. It was a wonderful well-prepared speech session. Good job guys!

In the evaluation session, Chet, Al and Michael Lee gave their wonderful evaluations to Joey’s, Ying’s and Matt’s speeches, respectively. The ah-counter was Sue Ann and the timer of this meeting was Jon Stribling. They all did excellent jobs (see below)!  Overall, it was a wonderful meeting! Thanks everyone and see you all next Friday in the same room on June 6th!!

Meeting Roles:
Toastmaster: John Donato

Table Topic Toastmaster: Michael Jackson
Ah Counter: Sue Ann
Timer: John Stibling

Ah Counter’s Report

Table Topics
Merlyne: 3um
Leonette: 1 so
Joe: 1uh
John F: 1ah
Matt: 0
Rosalyn: 0

Prepared speeches
Joey: 0
Ying:5 so 
Matt:4ah

Evaluations
Chet: 3so, 1um
Hans: 1so, 1ah
Michael Lee: 3 ah

Timer’s Report

Table Topics
Merlyne:48secounds
Leonette: 1:22min
Joe: 1:36 min
John F: 1:49
Matt: 1:13
Rosalyn: 1:59

Prepared speeches
Joey: 6:14
Ying:6:34
Matt:11:10

Evaluations
Chet: 2:29
Al: 3:10
Michael Lee: 3:14

On Friday May 23rd, we hosted our first-ever comedy event. 35 people came to join our special night. Our toastmaster was John Donato who organized this special event. He briefly introduced our club and passed the role to Julian Hernandez who was the keynote speaker of that night. Julian gave a keynote speech by introducing his past speeches which are based on his past, struggles in life and professions. He emphasized that everyone has humor and that we can all incorporate humor into our speeches.

Our guest speaker was Frank Santopadre who is a comedy writer. With humor, he explained what is like to be a comedy writer and about comedy business. By listening to his interesting stories, everybody was amused by getting to know such a unique job.

A table topic toastmaster was Juliana, who did an excellent job. She gave specific conditions and speakers had to act and make stories based on the conditions given. We usually have one speaker at a time in giving an impromptu speech but we had two speakers who acted together. Very entertaining speeches guys.

Our first prepared speaker was Micheal Jackson. His title of #3 speech was “Why I love Michael Jackson.” His speech was full of humor by explaining how Micheal Jackson solves everything. Trying to be Micheal Jackson himself, Michael greatly entertained the audience. It was a very smart and entertaining speech.

The next speaker was Merlyne. It was her #8 speech, “Social commentary… I mean comedy.” As always, she was very energetic and determined in giving a speech. By introducing a comedian Margaret Cho, Merlyne told that comedians are observers of social environment and that comedy should be considered seriously.

Our last speaker was Michael Lee. His #10th speech (!) was “overcoming the frustration.” Michael made a point that no matter how much you hate public speaking, we won’t hate as much if we actually get through it. His speech was convincing and emphasized the beauty of public speaking. Congratulations on completing 10 speeches, Michael!

Impromptu Speakers:

1. Cathe, Sterling 2. Jonathan Faulkner and Carol 3. Chet, Matt 4. Tim, Lisa

Prepared Speakers:

1. Micheal Jackson 2. Merlyne 3. Micheal Lee

Evaluators:

1. Leonette 2. Eric 3. Rosalyn

Thank you all for coming and we will see you guys on next Friday in the regular meeting room!

Hunter Toastmasters

On Friday May 23rd, we are going to host a special event and celebrate our 5th anniversary. We are having a similar format of our regular meeting but having comedy-themed table topics and prepared speeches (which are going to be hilarious!).  This is one time special event for our club and we want you all to be part of it. 

 We will not meet in the room where we usually have a meeting, but instead we will meet in TH105 (first floor at Thomas Hunter Building).

You are encouraged to bring a friend. Come out and laugh hard at our special comedy night!

Hunter Toastmasters 

Hello, fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests,

We had a wonderful meeting on May 2nd, 2008! More than 40 (!) people came including 8 new guests. Welcome and thank you all for coming!

The meeting was started on time by the president of our club Al with a brief opening remark. He then gave the lectern to our VP Education, Sterling who led the whole meeting through as the Toastmaster. Leonette then took the role as the toastmaster of the table topic session. She brought pictures of different themes and speakers made continuous stories based on the pictures they chose. Everybody spoke with humor. Well done, Leonette and thanks to the seven participants for their wonderful impromptus speeches (see below).

We had three wonderful speakers in the prepared speech session.  The first speaker was Young Kim. Even though it was his first speech, he seemed comfortable in delivering his icebreaker. He spoke about his personal experience in Iraq and he was engaged with the audience by telling an emotional story. The second speaker was Juliana. Even though it was her 4th speech, her speech was more than what it’s expected to be as a fourth speech. By using visual aids, she pointed out negative labels that we tend to put on someone and instead introduced non-violent communication. The last speaker was Cathe. In her 5th speech, she told how important to exercise because it makes our body feel better. Our bodies need oxygen and exercise will help us do that.  

In the evaluation session, Tim, Michael Lee and Suji gave their wonderful evaluations. The ah-counter was Migual and the timer of this meeting was Carol. They all did excellent jobs (see below)! The meeting was finished at about 7:45 pm. Overall, it was a wonderful meeting! Thanks everyone and see you all next Friday in the same room on May 9th, 2008!  

Meeting Roles:
Toastmaster: Sterling
Table Topic Toastmaster: Leonette 
Ah Counter: Migual
Timer: Carol

Ah Counter’s Report

Table Topics Session

Michael Lee 0

Michael Jackson 2 ah,  2 you know

Suji 10 ah, 5 you know

Andrew 4 um, 2 you know

Carolyn 1 um

James 1 ah, 1 you know

Mario 3 er

Prepared speeches
Young: 6ah/15um, 2 you know
Juliana: 1ah/5um

Cathe: 0

Evaluations
Tim2 ah, 3 um, 1 you know

Michael Lee: 3 ah, 1 um
Suji: 6ah/um

Timer’s Report

Table Topics Session
Michael Lee: 1:03min
Michael Jackson: 0:54min
Suji: 2:00min
Andrew: 1:27min
Carolyn: 0:59min
James: 1:45min
Mario: 2:08min

Prepared speeches
Young: 9:10min
Juliana: 8:32min

Cathe:7:23

Evaluations
Tim: 3:40min
Michael Lee: 3:25min

Suji: 2:10

Tonight, we had 32 participants including 6 guests. The meeting has been expanding and it shows that members are very engaged in improving their public speaking skills.

We had Julian, who is one of the veteran members and a mentor of our club as a Toastmaster. He welcomed everybody with solid introduction about himself- how he first got involved in Toastmasters Club 10 years ago.

Tim served as a Table Topic Master and asked questions regarding future to five table topic participants. Every question was different but based on the same theme, future, and everybody gave the wonderful speech. Good job!

Our prepared speeches are getting more interesting. Michael Jackson, Chet, and Merlyne gave their fascinating speeches to members and guests. Their speeches gave us insight, humor, and information all together. Michael’s speech “MJ’s Sweet 16” consisted of 16 points to show how organized Michale is and convinced us that we need to give him a good evaluation. Chet’s second speech was about ‘Utopian Relationship.’ He gave us three categories of relationship and asked us one of the ultimate questions of life -if a perfect relationship exists. The third speaker was Merlyne and she gave her seventh speech, “To Follow or Not to Follow” with the thorough research. Entertaining with humor, asking us deep questions about life, all the speakers did impressive jobs. Well done guys. We will see you all in the next meeting which will be held in the same room. Hope to see you all next week!

Meeting Roles:

Toastmaster: Julian

Table Topic Master: Tim

Evaluators: Eric, Suji, Al
Timer: Ying
Ah Counter Grammarian: Jon Faulkner

Ah Counter’s Report

Timer’s report

#Table Topic Speakers

#Prepared Speakers

#Evaluators

We had a successful meeting on March 21st, 2008. Twenty six people participated in the meeting including two new guests. Thank you for coming and helping to make the meeting successful.

The opening remark was held by our president, Al. His entertainment made everybody laugh and got ready for the meeting. The Table Topicmaster was our veteran member, Leonette. She initiated the table topic by asking the participants to make stories based on the pictures that she brought. Although some of the pictures seemed to be difficult to interpret, the variety of pictures made their stories very interesting and entertaining. Great job, Leonette and thanks for wonderful impromptus speech done by the 6 participants.

In the prepared speech session, two members Eric and Merlyne gave their brilliant speeches. In his sixth speech, Eric talked about ‘Values’ by telling us about research that proves that usage of work affects child development. We all could related this story since we are pursuing to improve our speech skill. The next speaker Merlyne gave her sixth speech too. Her title was “What would you do? – the real consequences.” Her speech was involved in vocal variety and this made her point very clear. Nicely done two of you. Good jobs!

In the evaluation session, Cathe and Chet gave their wonderful evaluations. The ah-counter was Nadia and the timer of this meeting was Michael Jackson. The meeting was finished at about 7:40 pm right on time thanks for Al’s good control of time as the toastmaster. Overall, it was a wonderful meeting! Thanks everyone and see you all next Friday in the same room on March, 28th 2008!

Ah Counter Report:

Table Topic Speech:

Kilrak 4 ah

Chet 2 ah

John 0

Joe 1 you know

Tim 5 um

John Faulkner 4 ah

Prepared speech
Eric 16 ah
Merlyne 2 ah

Evaluators
Cathe 5 ah 5 um

Cathe 2 ah, 2 um

Timer Report:

Table topic speakers
Kilrak 1:52

Chet 1:33

John 1:54

Joe 1:33

Tim 1:19

John Faulkner 2:03

Prepared Speakers
Eric 6: 35
Merlyne 6: 32

Evaluators

Cathe 2:22

Chet 2:55

Meeting Roles:
Toastmaster: Kilrak
Table Topic Toastmaster: Yong-jie
Ah Counter:
Timer: Cathe

Ah Counter’s Report

Table Topics
Carol: 2 ah
Matt: 8 ah
Rafael: 0
Leonette: 6ah
Chet: 3ah
Miguel: 1 like, 2 you know

Prepared speeches
Chet: 6 ah, um
Fumi: 2 ah

Evaluations

Leonette: 1 ah

John Donato 6 ah

Timer’s Report

Table Topics
Carol: 2:02min
Matt: 2min
Rafael: 1:08min
Leonette: 2min
Chet: 1:51min
Miguel: 1:54min
Prepared speeches
Chet:6min

Fumi 6:48min

Evaluations
Leonette: 3:19min
John: 3:25min

Ah counter:Catherine

Timer: Cathe